Undergraduate Protein Crystallography Tutorials
Developed by Dr. Pamela Riggs-Gelasco, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry
College of Charleston, Charleston SC

   The purpose of these tutorials is to serve as a teaching aid in the instruction of biochemistry at the undergraduate level.  Each tutorial contains a set of instructions which are designed to be used in conjunction with the computer software program Rasmol.  Rasmol is a free software program which can be downloaded by clicking here: https://www.umass.edu/microbio/rasmol/.   Once you have downloaded Rasmol, you are then able to download and view any of the three dimensional protein crystallography image files in the Brookhaven Protein Data Bank.  To download an image file simply go to https://www.rcsb.org/pdb/ and enter the file code (which we provide to you in each tutorial) for the molecule you wish to view in the search box.  Or simply enter the name of the molecule that you wish to view in the search box and the search engine will show you all of the existing crystal structure for that molecule.  Once you have downloaded both Rasmol and the appropriate image files simply open Rasmol on your personal computer and you are ready to begin.  Just follow the instructions in these tutorials and enjoy the wonderful world of biochemistry.

 
 

        The Glycolysis Enzymes

DNA Crystal Structures


Other Enzymes


Other Crystal Structures


 

All of the information contained within these tutorials was discovered, developed, and published by the researchers who are cited within each respective tutorial.  Neither Dr. Pamela Riggs-Gelasco or the College of Charleston claim any credit for the research or development of these crystal structures or the catalytic and mechanistic speculations that are expressed within these tutorials.  These tutorials only purpose is to consolidate and present the work of others in a manner that is accessible to undergraduate biochemistry students.

Links:

College of Charleston Homepage

Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry Homepage